Home Depot loses laptop with personal info for 10,000 employees

Yes, it’s true. Home Depot, one of the nation’s largest home improvement stores, is in a heap of trouble. A laptop containing personal information for over 10,000 of their employees has turned up missing in Massachusetts. The computer was apparently sitting on the front passenger seat of a car belonging to one of the company’s regional managers. Thar car was broken into; laptop gone. The computer contained the names, social security numbers, and home addresses of thousands of Northeast employees. Home We’re-in-deep-crap is refusing to say whether or not the data was encrypted. We’re guessing that’d be a no. To the company’s credit, they immediately contacted the 10,000 affected employees, and offered free credit-monitoring services to ensure that identity theft doesn’t take place, but this seems like a small comfort in light of the potential damage that this loss could cause. We’d say we’ll stop going to Home Depot, but Lowe’s is just so shady…

Actually its the other way around home depot is shady an there customer service suxors. Man an I thoght the ohio state goverment was bad

Outrigger

Isn’t this a 2 day old news?

JJLO

It is stupid to leave a laptop in a car …I am sure it was in view. I do not care if it was in the driveway. He/She knew that sensitive information was on the laptop. You bring it in the house…period. For me that is grounds for termination.

Dtest5477

Gal your an idiot.

This stuff happens, people like Gal break into cars and steal things, at least they notified them immediately and offered the monitoring service.

Gal, get back to work. Target customers need clean isles.

mobilecontrol

Wow, anyone remember when the same thing happened to T-Mobile about 1 year ago???

dand

I love how Galvatron is like the BGR / Engadget B@stard child that everyone beats up on. At least he never flames other posters, only companies. I give him that much.

Dtest5477

perhaps you havent read his posts on Apple. He flames and bashes anyone who doesnt hate them…try again.

dand

D@mn I didnt know that.. this guy/girl/it is global! Ok Galvatron, maybee you should chill with the negative ways before you are shunned :)

dondgc

Any company that puts SS numbers, matched with names and addresses, in unencrypted form, on a laptop deserves whatever negative publicity they get.

I mean come on – how many times does this have to happen before companies realize they have an obligation to PROTECT the data they collect from employees and/or customers? They must have idiots running the IT department.

This isn’t about Home Depot vs. Lowes. It is about understanding even the tiny baby step basics of protecting data that people entrust you with. Home Depot joins a long line of government and private agencies who have raised their hands and said “We’re clueless!”

dondgc

CNET is now saying the theft took place several weeks ago but was just made public by Home Depot, which says the laptop was password protected. So password protection is certainly much better than no protection at all.

Potsey

I use this product called computrace. Its kind of a lo-jack for laptops. If it gets stolen they can track if, even if the hard drive is replaced. Plus you can set it to erase the entire computer if it’s plugged into the internet. One would think a large IT group would be smart enough for that. Then again I think most people know better to leave a laptop sitting on the front seat of a car.

Galvatron

I doubt homdepot even has an IT group.

They prbably sub to a 3rd party group

But seriously this is lack of common sense.
Even without th contacts tha is high end electronics sombody can fence. Take the thing with you keep in your house. Don’t keep in in the car. This is one reson why smartphones lik blackberrys exist. In the meantine suck up tha nerdiness an keep the lappy with you at all times it’s better then have ing the higher ups breathing down your throat

NuShrike

Oh Gal has flamed others before.

Anyways, what’s the point of “credit monitoring” services? It’s a cop-out as there’s no other way to make up for the damage.